Chapter 111 – Getting to the Village

Armirynth leads us through a small hallway and into a busy living room. A few worn couches and chairs circle around a simple fireplace. A small door likely leads to the kitchen and another to the bedroom.

"Please find a seat. I hope this conversation won't take too long. Ilka and Akhae should be coming home soon. Akhae likely got caught up in some conversation during her walk. Ilka is probably yelling at the guard that gave you trouble," she says, taking one of the chairs.

Mai and Kelly take a spot on the couch and I find a chair to sit down in.

"How did you know the guard gave us trouble?" Mai asks.

"She gives everyone she doesn't know or like trouble. She's been rather annoyed by my pregnancy. If she thinks you have anything to do with me and she thinks anyone who doesn't live in this village does, she'll give you a hard time. You didn't do anything to her, did you? It would be annoying to deal with, but probably deserved," she explains.

"No, we just kind of forced our way in," I say. "You knew Alzi was going to be taken. That is what I would like to know more about."

"I went to the Fertility temple after one of my days with Alzi. During my prayer, I had a meeting with the Goddess of Fertility. She said Alzi would be taken and that Yuki had a plan I should trust. The Goddess told me not to let Alzi know."

"HONEY! We're home. Heard you have a few visitors," Ilka shouts before coming into view.

"Dear, I told you I can hear you when you speak normally. The beastkin here likely don't appreciate the yelling, our house doesn't need yelling."

"You say that, but I've snuck up on you multiple times and had you lash your tail out at me," she says, worming her way into Armirynth's lap. "Now, what is this about the Goddess telling you not to let our daughter know something?"

"The Goddess instructed me not to let Alzi know she is being sold again. Or it seems that she was sold. These three are from the brothel. Mai, Kelly, and Yuki," she explains, pointing to each of us. "Mai is pregnant with Alzi's children as well. Kelly is the healer that helped her and Yuki is a good friend."

"I see. Welcome to our humble home," she says. "Now, WHAT DO YOU MEAN ALZI HAS BEEN SOLD!"

"That I can explain a bit better, I think," I say, jumping in. "I doubt the Goddess cared enough to say to who owns Alzi now. A princess of this Queendom has bought her to be the seed for her family. All Princesses that wish to fight for the throne have to have a man or a Herm in their harem. Princess Elora has recently announced her bid for the throne and has now taken Alzi to fill in that role."

"Princess. Well, shit. We can't compare to a princess," Akhae mumbles, still standing at the entrance of the room.

"We can. I have an old friend of mine working right now to get help earning our little group an audience with the Queen. With that, we should earn a request, and marrying her daughter is a normal request to have. It'll take a lot of work, but with me and her working, we can do it in a year or so, I think. If a war breaks out, maybe even faster," I say.

"We'll marry a princess?" Akhae says, finally shuffling to a couch to sit by herself.

"Yes, I can see you now have a class. I'm not going to pry, but with everyone here having a class, it has made this a lot easier."

"You aren't going to bring up how you're a Princess?" Kelly just has to say. "They were planned to marry a princess even if Alzi wasn't sold. Or would you have found a way to exclude them?"

"I had no plan to exclude them. It just wasn't important for them to know my title," I say. I would've asked for them to be concubines instead—a small difference but one that would make my Mother a lot happier. If Alzi pushed back, I would've made it work. Mother can't be too mad about bringing such a strong seed back home.

"I think it is," she says. "You..."

"Shut up, you two. Yes, things could be better right down, but they aren't. We all get to work together to fix this mess and help Alzi out ok. So please shut up about it already," Mai interrupts. Saving me from having to explain why I didn't just buy Alzi myself. It was a bit of an oversight, but I didn't think there would be another Princess willing to marry a brothel whore.

"Ok, so what is your plan, Yuki?" Armirynth asks.

"I gave the overview already. But, my friend, a warrior she found, and I will go out and do a bunch of hard missions from the guild. You five will maintain the home, and Kelly will sell healing services and potions. Mai can work with the Silvana family to earn some money and build a bit of fame maybe. You three need to build your levels. Each level and class you get, the easier it'll be to force the Queen to grant our request. Worst case I'll have to get my Mother to make some agreement between my realm and this Queendom. She won't be happy to do that, and we'll all have to pay something dear to convince her, so that is a last resort."

"Where will this home be? Ours is too small for all these people and the kids on the way," Ilka asks.

"Yes, I have a home that will work for the short term in the city. We'll have to get a bigger one soon for the kids; I have plenty of money for that; we just need to go looking."

"We're moving?" Akhae asks.

"Yes, dear. I thought it would be after the kids are born, but it seems the Goddesses have a different plan for us," Armirynth says.

"I..."

"Akhae, honey. I know you're worried about it. But we all agreed it would be fine when we married," Ilka says. "We don't have much keeping us here. Most of the girls ignored us and only started reaching out when Armirynth got pregnant again. It'll do us some good to head out."

"I know. Just the city is. The city is big and crowded. Just scary, I guess."

"Yes, but we'll get used to it," Armirynth says. "When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow. We have some storage rings to take anything you need," I say.

"What about selling the house?"

"We don't need the money. Just let the mayor, or whoever is in charge, know that the house is empty and available."

"Ok, just feels weird to say we don't need the money. We had to work hard to afford this house," Ilka says, still resting in the pregnant woman's lap.

"I'm sure you did, but the city is a different beast. The property there is priced very differently. We would just get a week's worth of food for what you sell this house for," I tell her. "We'll let you three have dinner; we should be good from the brothel's lunch. I would like to explore a bit. You don't get to see a dragon's village often," I say, standing up. Mai and Kelly stay still on the couch.

"Be careful. The guard isn't the only one that hates outsiders," Akhae warns. Ilka slides off her wife's lap so she can work on the dinner.

"I will. Try to organize your things so we can pack them up quickly. I have plenty of space to take things. We won't need any furniture, so keep it to clothing and tools you may want. Things like that," I instruct, waiting to see if Mai or Kelly would like to explore with me.

"Ok, we shouldn't have too much if we don't need to take furniture. How about rugs and stuff?"

"We can take that. The flooring will be bare, so we might as well, and if you have an attachment to a chair or something, we can still take it."

"Ok," the dragons say.

Armirynth heads into the kitchen, Akhae and Ilka go to their bedroom, and Mai and Kelly don't seem to want to join me, so I head out.

Outside, I can see the sun setting over the low walls that circle the town. There likely won't be many people walking around, but a peaceful walk would be welcome. Kelly's fighting is a bit annoying.

Both directions look about the same, so I head in the opposite direction from where we came. It's a small dirt road filled with houses similar in size to Armirynth's. A few women hang out along the road, giving me a weird look before returning to their conversation. My clothing shows I'm likely a high-ranking noble, and none outside of the silly guard wish to deal with me.

The road shows some planning went into making the little town. It is mostly straight compared to the common winding mess of streets most villages have. They did talk about buying and not building, so there must be a small government or elder they follow.

I wonder how grand they planned their home to be.

Likely some old crone that got the original village exiled from the dragon's realm. Maybe a generation or two ago, a long generation or two ago, based on their lifetimes. Perhaps even a lower noble, a baron or something, that has lost most of their affinity after their best males were forced to stay in their home land.

I come up to a road that lets me go towards the center, so I stroll that way. I might as well see how the 'rich' are living here.

The road is still just packed dirt, and the houses still don't reach a second floor. But they do seem to be getting wider. There are some lights on in the window. We'll have to sleep on the floor tonight. The couches should be fine; they didn't look too stiff.

Only a few people are still hurrying home on the road, mainly heading towards the outer ring of houses.

Do they really have maids all the way out here? Maybe they are apprentices leaving after the shop closes up for the day.

I make one more turn to the center and start to find houses that reach the second floor. Bright light goes out of their windows as they hog all the mana lights.

"What are you doing here, kitsune?" an old silver dragon calls out.

Looks like I wasn't far off.

"Walking around, grandma," I call back, continuing my walk. Daring the disgraced Countess to do more.

Why not stir up a mess before we leave? It would do the guard some good to learn not to piss off the strong before someone that has true standing in the Queendom comes knocking.

"Hmph, you're giving quite the show for just walking around. Tails puffed out like that. You don't own this town, and we all know you have no true standing in the Queendom," she says.

"I'm allowed to display what I'm proud about. I'm not demanding anyone pay me taxes or shiny my heels. I think you've heard one too many stories from your Grandma about the respect your family used to have."

"You may want to stop pissing everyone off. That human girl looked ready to kill you when you walked in. You won't have a happy family like that. So, like I said, you don't own this town. Stop trying to show off," she says. This time turning around and walking off, not caring about my response.

The sun is almost fully set, so I decide to turn back and see what the sleeping arrangements will be.